Wheeled IV stands are widely used to hang IV bags or bottles at a level to allow gravity assisted flow to a patient or to an intermediate device such as an IV pump. Examples of wheeled IV stands are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,294 to Eidem and entitled Portable I.V. Stand, U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,305 to Woodward and entitled Portable Intravenous Support Stand and U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,162 to Lin and entitled Drop-Bottle Stand. And examples of foldable wheeled IV stands are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,536 to Bancalari and entitled Collapsable Pole and Stand Combination and U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,279 to Lafferty et al. and entitled Fully Portable Medical I.V. Equipment Stand/Pole.
Wheeled stands have evolved to include support brackets for ambulatory patients or mounting brackets to support additional equipment such as oxygen bottles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,378 to Pryor, et al. and entitled Ambulatory Patient Support Stand, describes a wheeled IV stand with a horizontal patient gripping element when the stand is used as a walker. The gripping element is mounted low on the vertical support of the IV stand and the stand has a low center of gravity. These aspects are stated to improve stability. U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,992 to Pryor et al. and entitled Support Device for Ambulatory Patient describes a support for an ambulatory patient that mounts on a vertical pole of a wheeled IV stand. U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,105 to Short and entitled Apparatus Combining Overbed Table, IV Stand, Walker, and Seat and U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,577 to Gordon and entitled Walker-IV Stand Coupler describe apparatus combining an IV stand and walker. These apparatus, however, require a substantial amount of space.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,687 to Pryor et al. and entitled Foldable Wheeled Stand describes a foldable wheeled stand with a support handle to allow ambulatory patients to use the stand both for transport of necessary medical equipment including, IV fluid containers, and for ambulatory support. The stand is collapsible from an upright orientation in which all wheels are floor-engaging to a folded orientation in which the wheels lie closely alongside the support pole.
While the above features add functionality to IV stands, there remains a need to improve IV stands for use in different modalities.